Vegetable gardening is nutritious in both body and mind. It’s exciting to watch a little seed turn into a sprout, then into a small plant, and eventually, into a big ole squash plant that’s bursting with bright yellow gourds and giant green leaves. Digging your hands into cool soil is meditative. Smelling the basil and dill is heavenly. And you don’t have to live on a country estate to grow your own food at home, either.
City dwellers can plant vegetables in patio container gardens. In cold climates, you can start a small garden indoors or even grow vegetables outdoors most of the year if you have a greenhouse.
When it comes to planning a backyard vegetable garden, ideas are easy to come by. There are plenty of pictures of elaborate gardens with rows of sun-ripened tomatoes, entire sections devoted solely to peas, raised beds for root vegetables, and, of course, a fountain and seating area. We don’t all have gigantic yards, though. As nice as it would be to have row after row of heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers, it’s just not realistic when your backyard garden is a two-foot by four-foot rectangle between your driveway and the foundation of your house.
The thing is, you can create a really nice garden in that small rectangle of space. It’s a simple matter of timing, design, and plant selection. But if you have a large backyard, even better!
In the articles below, we dive into everything you need to know about vegetable gardening. You can learn even more in our How to Grow a Vegetable Garden: 10 Things Every Gardener Needs to Know Before Starting a Food Garden freebie. Enjoy!
Is there any flower more lovely than the sunflower? Famous post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh painted a series of sunflower canvases. It appears on the state flag of Kansas. There’s even a National Sunflower Association, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the agricultural importance of these flowers.
Nice as it would be, we don’t all have big plots of land and healthy, rich soil to grow our gardens. Heck, some of us don’t have any land at all, so we stick to container gardens on the balcony or front porch. Even though that may seem limiting, there are a lot of shallow root vegetables that work in containers or those tough spots that don’t seem useful for growing anything.
I love a good garden joke. Why doesn’t Elton John like lettuce? He’s more of a Rocket Man. I was offered a job as a gardener, but I didn’t take it because the celery was too low. Oh, ho, ho. Knee-slappers I say. You know what else I love? Quotes about gardening, and these inspirational […]
If you’re looking for some new vegetable varieties to try in your garden this year, have we got a list for you! And we’ll throw in a mini-biology lesson at the same time, because what’s cooler than plant biology? I’m just going to jump right in with some definitions. If you’ve ever shopped for seeds, […]
As a kid, my least favorite flower was the marigold. Companion plants, pollinators, and wondering how the heck to keep rabbits out of my garden was still years away. Marigolds, on the other hand, were right there in front of me. So was the bee that stung me, along with a few of his fellow bees gathering pollen from the flowers. In my eight-year-old mind it was all connected: marigolds attract bees, bees sting you, therefore, marigolds were the worst flower ever.
I live in New England, and I love having four distinct seasons, even if winter is a bit longer than I’d like. If you’re reading this based on the title, you are likely in New England too (howdy neighbor!) so you know that New England also has a long history of farming, and you probably live on a plot that was once farmland. Bartlett Farm, one of the oldest farms in New England, is in Massachusetts and began growing vegetables in 1659 (or possibly 1639, depending on your source).
We all know that vegetables need water to grow, but what happens when watering your garden gets complicated. You might live in a dry climate where droughts are common. Or maybe you use well water and need to be careful about using a sprinkler or irrigation system on a regular basis. Whatever your reason, choosing drought-resistant vegetables is a great strategy when planting a water-conscious garden.
When we bought our house, my favorite thing in the backyard was the hundred-year-old Ash tree smack dab in the center of the yard. She was statuesque, gorgeous, sturdy, and shadier than a Real Housewife at a Reunion Show Special.
Let me tell you about the first time I grew broccoli. I planted three in a row. They were one of the first to grow in my garden that year, and I was proud. As they started to go from small heads to the kind you see in the grocery store, I realized I didn’t know how to cut broccoli off the plant. And honestly, I was confused why anyone would grow such a big plant for one head of broccoli.
The idea of growing your own food year-round is appealing. I don’t mind going to the grocery store, but I also don’t know how much I’d miss it if I didn’t have to go so much. And let’s be honest, those out-of-season strawberries just aren’t the same as the juicy, sweet, transcendent berries that you grow in your own garden in late spring.
